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NATO's Stronger Baltic Force Riles Russia Wall Street Journal (subscription) ADAZI, LatviaThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization said its deterrent force is fully in place in the Baltic area with the addition of a Canadian-led battle group in Latvia, enhancing deployments criticized by Russia. A ceremony on Monday, featuring ... Latvia welcomes NATO troopsXinhua NATO Has No Plans to Increase Baltics, Poland Troop Numbers - NATO ChiefSputnik International President Vejonis calls NATO Enhanced Forward Presence a historic affirmation of solidarityBaltic Times all 7 news articles »

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NATO's Stronger Baltic Force Riles Russia - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Americas European allies are campaigning to stop President Donald Trump from using national security grounds to slap restrictions on foreign steel imports.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Monday the administration is ready to take bold action to limit imports of steel, even though the Commerce Departments investigation into the supposed national-security risks from relying on imported steel is still ongoing.

Though the administration has touted the action, which could include tariffs or quotas or both, as a move to check Chinas abusive trade practices, NATO allies are concerned that theyll feel the pinch a lot more than Beijing.

According to a report in the Financial Times, German and Dutch military officials have been pressing Defense Secretary James Mattis to make the case that steel imports from NATO members like Germany and Belgium dont pose a threat to American national security. Reports indicate that Mattis has warned the White House against any rash action on steel.

Berlin is reportedly particularly concerned about a steel dispute could further widen the rift between Europe and the United States, already yawning after Washingtons withdrawal from the Paris accord and the U.S. Senates efforts to tighten sanctions against European firms that do certain kinds of business with Russia.

Chad Bown, a trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, says the Europeans have a point. In a recent study, he found that countries like Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, and Germany not China are likely to suffer under Trumps new restrictions. Thats because imports of Chinese steel are already covered by existing trade remedies dating back to the turn of the century; almost 10 percent of Chinese goods imported into the United States are subject to some sort of trade restriction, Bown notes, up from 2 percent in 2001.

Photo credit: EMMANUEL DUNAND/Getty Images

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NATO Allies Press Trump To Stop Steel Crackdown - Foreign Policy (blog)

Russia is planning a military exercise involving 100,000 soldiers after NATO simulated a mock defense from an invasion through the Baltic's

(VERO BEACH, FL) The upcoming drill, which has been held jointly with Belarus every four years starting in 1973, will begin in September and is nicknamed Exercise Zapad 2017.

During the 9th edition of this joint military exercise, a defense will be simulated by the Russian high command to repel a mock invasion of Belarus by NATO.

Historically the drill has involved a scenario where a full-scale conflict between the West and Russia has broken out, and previous iterations have even included simulated nuclear responses on European cities.

Ahead of this drill, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, Commander of all U.S. Army units in Europe (USAEUR), announced Friday that an additional 600 troops will be deployed across the Baltic States for the duration of Zagad 2017, bringing the number of NATO forces currently in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland to approximately 5,100.

Hodges told Reuters that the Pentagon is worried about possible Russian aggression during the Zapad exercise.

"When (Russia) went into Crimea, that was against the backdrop of an exercise. When they went into Georgia, that was an exercise", Lt. Gen. Hodges said during a NATO exercise in Poland. "Their history is full of examples where they don't live up to any treaties ... They routinely violate those things.

"We are all working hard to be at the highest levels of readiness during exercises like this, Lt. Gen. Hodges said.

The exercise Lt. Gen. Hodges was in attendance for in Poland was part of a series of NATO operations including Saber Strike and Baltic Operations (BALTOPS), which run throughout June, and are aimed at deterring the alleged Russian Threat.

BALTOPS involves 55 aircraft, 50 ships and submarines, and 4000 troops from 14 different nations.

In Poland, the USAEUR commander was personally overseeing the Suwalki Gap exercise, which involved 1,500 U.S. and British troops simulating the defense of the strategically significant Suwalki Gap from a Russian invasion.

The Suwalki Gap is a 64 mile block of farm, wooded, and low-hill land on the border between Poland and Lithuania and touches the territorial lines of Russias Kaliningrad enclave.

A Russian seizure of the Suwalki Gap would effectively cut off Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from the rest of Western Europe, meaning the regions defense is crucial to NATOs mission to protect the Baltics.

The gap is vulnerable because of the geography, Lt. Gen. Hodges told Reuters. It's not inevitable that there's going to be an attack, of course, but ... if that was closed, then you have three allies that are north that are potentially isolated from the rest of the alliance.

B-1B and B-52 bombers are included in the U.S. aircraft deployment roster for BALTOPS 2017, and according to Daily Signal correspondent Nolan Peterson, who has been embedded with the U.S. Air Force for the duration of the exercise, the Russians are keeping a close eye on these iconic bombers capable of carrying nuclear weaponry.

While onboard a U.S. Air Force KC-135 aerial refueling tanker on June 9th, Peterson witnessed two Russian Su-27 flanker fighter jets intercept a10-plane NATO formation compromised of two U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers, one USAF B-52H bomber, two German Eurofighter Typhoon fighters, two Polish F-16 fighters, two U.S. Air Force F-16s, and a U.S. Navy P-8 surveillance aircraft.

Its a game, Air Force Lt. Col. Kristofer Padilla, commander of 52nd Operations Group Detachment 1, told The Daily Signal afterward the incident, which occured in inside international airspace. They [the Russians] broke no rules.

Aside from BALTOPS, which began annually in 1972, and the Saber Strike exercises, NATO is also conducting Iron Wolf 2017, which is a 10-day joint military exercise currently being held in Lithuania involving 5,000 troops from nine different nations.

Russia has repeatedly denied the existence of any plans to attack the Baltic States, and denounced NATOs military buildup along its borders as a threat to national security.

In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed NATO for provoking a conflict with Moscow and using its newly-declared official mission to deter Russia as a pretext.

Also in February, while speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that NATO's expansion has led to an unprecedented level of tension over the last 30 years in Europe.

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When the stealthy hi-tech F-35 fighter jet tears through Paris skies on its first ever acrobatic displays this week, the jet will also be sending a message: NATO allies, the United States is still on your side.

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USA TODAY Published 1:32 p.m. ET June 19, 2017 | Updated 4 hours ago

A Lockheed Martin F-35 jetfighter performs during a demonstration in Le Bourget on June 16, 2017, prior to the formal June 19 opening of the Paris Air Show.(Photo: ERIC PIERMONT, AFP/Getty Images)

LE BOURGET, France (AP) When the stealthy hi-tech F-35 fighter jet tears through Paris skies on its first ever acrobatic displays this week, the jet will also be sending a message: NATO allies, the United States is still on your side.

In an Associated Press interview at the opening Monday of the Paris Air Show, a senior F-35 Air Force administrator, Brigadier General Select Todd Canterbury, said the daily displays of the new jet are to showcase its abilities and "reassure (allies) that we are committed to NATO 100 percent and that we have got the capability to respond to any action necessary."

PARIS AIR SHOW ROUND-UP:See all the stories from the show

U.S. President Donald Trump has called NATO obsolete and excoriated European allies last month for not spending enough on their own defenses.

Canterbury, director of the Air Force F-35 Integration Office at the Pentagon, also spoke about recent problems that grounded F-35s at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. Since May 2, F-35 pilots on five occasions reported symptoms of oxygen deprivation, he said.

Engineers, test pilots, medics and others experts are "digging into this problem 24 hours a day," to try to identify the cause, Canterbury said.

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Paris Air Show: F-35 fighter show is gesture to NATO allies, US says - USA TODAY

With NATO Summit Meetings taking place at roughly 18 months intervals, it would be too much to expect that every one of them will be brimming with significance. But the recent meeting of NATO Heads of State and Government on May 25th may come to be seen as significant for all the wrong reasons.

It appears to have been intended to be a moment when the strength of the trans-Atlantic alliance would be reconfirmed following the election of President Trump. But if solidarity was the name of the game, someone appears to have forgotten to inform the US President. Far from reinforcing cohesion, the Presidents public remarks in Brussels preceding the meeting were notable chiefly for the absence of any confirmation of the USs Article 5 commitment to the defence of its European allies, as well as the stress he placed on the failure of 23 out of 28 allies to meet the 2% of GDP target for defence spending. Chancellor Merkels comments in Berlin three days later that the times when we could totally rely on others are to some extent over, as I have experienced in the past few days, were telling.

Yet, curiously, the Presidents speech came less than a month after SACEUR, in testimony to a Senate committee, said that EUCOM had shifted from a posture of security cooperation and engagement to one of deterrence and defence, and only days before a request to increase the 2018 budget for the USs European Reassurance Initiative from $3.4Bn to $4.7Bn. Thus, at the same time as the President was casting doubt on the US commitment to the defence of Europe, on the ground the scale of the US commitment is increasing. The President could have used this fact to add to the moral pressure on the European allies to contribute more to defence, as well as adding to the deterrent effect of his remarks.

The two items on the agenda for the meeting were the fight against terrorism and burden sharing. These reflected President Trumps priorities, but the lack of emphasis on collective defence and deterrence was a missed opportunity to sustain the theme established at Wales and continued at Warsaw. The absence of a communiqu contributed to the impression that the brief meeting lacked substance and made it more difficult to gauge what progress had been made in implementing the commitments made at the previous two summits. Perhaps it was sensible not to ramp up the rhetoric on defence against threats from the East. Strong defence coupled with openness to dialogue is the right policy. But more should have been made of the progress in reinforcing the Alliances borders in order to enhance deterrence. And it was curious in the extreme that the Alliances leaders had nothing to say about the continuing stalemate in Ukraine.

At the concluding press conference, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated that the meeting had been a powerful reminder of NATO solidarity and the importance of the common fight against terrorism. He described the agreement that NATO would become a full member of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS as a strong signal of NATOs commitment to fight global terrorism. Given that all 28 allies are already members of that coalition, it is difficult to see what practical effect this will have. The Secretary General highlighted the ability to take part in political deliberations, including on the coordination of training and capacity building. But, since the coalition includes many states which are not NATO members and is not being led by the Alliance, the practical impact of this initiative is likely to be extremely modest and could even be counterproductive if it has the effect of putting off other potential partners. Without knowing the detail of the increased contribution by the NATO AWACS force, it is difficult to assess its value, other than to acknowledge that any additional contribution is better than none.

The decision to develop annual national plans setting out how the member states intend to meet the 2014 investment pledge, deliver the military capabilities the Alliance requires and contribute to NATO missions sounds promising. We are told that the first set of reports are to be made by the end of this year, in time for NATO Defence Ministers to consider them in February 2018. It will be instructive to see how the new initiative fares. If it has the effect of driving the allies to meet the 2% target, it will have served a useful purpose. However, as the Secretary General acknowledged, it is not just a question of how much is spent but also how it is spent. If the new initiative adds bite to the existing annual capability planning cycle, it would be an added boon. NATOs defence planning processes are more shrouded in secrecy than is either necessary or useful. This restricts rational debate about how best to maximise military output on an Alliance-wide basis. The more transparency surrounding the new initiative, the more effective it is likely to be.

The overall effect of the meeting was to sharpen differences between the US and its European allies, rather than reinforce Alliance solidarity. Any modest benefit from the focus on counterterrorism was more than offset by the fresh impetus provided to speculation about the US commitment to Article 5. On the other hand, if the combination of President Trumps undiplomatic language and the development of annual plans on the 2% target galvanises the European allies to spend more and spend more effectively, some good will have come of the gathering.

The opinions articulated above represent the views of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Leadership Network or any of its members. The ELN's aim is to encourage debates that will help develop Europe's capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security challenges of our time.

For updates on our latest exclusive research and commentaries, please sign up to our newsletter here.

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Assessing the NATO Heads of State and Government Meeting, 25 May 2017 - European Leadership Network

The former U.S. ambassador to NATO said the unpredictability of the Trump administration may open opportunities for opponents.

"This sort of unpredictability over the first five months of this administration possibly opens potential opportunities for opponents," Douglas Lute, former U.S. representative to NATO under President Obama, said in an interview on "This Week" Sunday. "Here, I think, Russia, in particular."

Asked by "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz what Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks when he hears President Trump talk about Russia, Lute said Putin sees the chance to "crack the NATO alliance."

"I suspect he sees an opportunity to do what military force alone could never do, and that is crack the NATO alliance. If he can crack it politically or if he can provoke internal fissures inside the alliance, then Putin sees enormous opportunity to achieve a longstanding Russian goal," Lute said.

Lute added that Trumps failure during a speech in Brussels last month to reaffirm NATOs Article 5, which commits that an attack on one member of the alliance is an attack on all, will lead other members of NATO to hedge their bets.

They believe they cant rely on U.S. leadership as they have for the past 70 years, Lute said. We should think about what that 70 years has featured U.S. leadership, which has been the backbone of recovery from World War II all the way, seeing us all the way through the Cold War period. And then beyond the Cold War, seeing NATO as a stabilizing force outside NATO boundaries, so in the Balkans. And today, even today, in Afghanistan.

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Putin sees chance under Trump to 'crack the NATO alliance': Former ... - ABC News

2017-06-17 According to an article published on the Norwegian Ministry of Defence website, NATO will be focusing on its core mission of collective defense in the upcoming Trident Juncture exercise.

NATO needs to hold exercises on a large scale. Only this way are we able to test all the levels in the alliance: From the troops on the ground and all the way up to a strategic level, says General Denis Mercier, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) in NATO.

General Mercier (right) together with Norways Chief of Defence, Admiral Haakon Bruun-Hanssen.

The French General thinks Norway will be ideal for an exercise on this scale.

NATO needs realistic training, where we can combine operations in the air, at sea and on land. In Norway we get everything, this is one of the best places to train in Europe, says Mercier.

The cold climate also brings extra challenges for the soldiers, that hones their skill.

For many years, NATO has been occupied with international conflicts, but recent developments have led to a renewed focus on the core of the alliance.

Collective defence and training for this will be key. This is one of NATOs core missions and we will spend more time on this in the future, says general Denis Mercier.

The General underlines the importance in focusing on the core mission: NATO as a defensive organisation.

Deterrence is key for NATO. With large-scale exercises we can demonstrate our capacity and uphold our credibility.

https://forsvaret.no/en/taking-nato-back-to-its-core-mission

Editors Note: Norway is refocusing its efforts on its Article III commitments to self defense and encouraging NATO more broadly to enhance its collective defense capabilities.

We discussed this way ahead with the new Chief of Staff of the Norwegian Air Force earlier this year.

2017-02-24 By Robbin Laird

During the Norwegian Airpower Conference held at Trondheim in early February 2017, I had a chance to discuss with the new Chief the Royal Norwegian Air Force, Major General Tonje Skinnarland, and Brigadier General Jan Ove Rygg, chief of the National Air Operations Center (NAOC) their perspectives on the way ahead.

http://www.sldinfo.com/new-head-of-the-norwegian-air-force-in-a-period-of-significant-airpower-transition/

The Chief of the Royal Norwegian Air Force set the tone for much of the discussion during the Conference by focusing on the Norwegian Air Force in transition and the challenge of shaping integrated defense capabilities for the defense of Norway.

Norway being a small country with a large geography and a large neighbor on its border obviously needed to shape a defense capability highly interactive with its allies to ensure deterrence in depth for Norwegian defense.

Chief the Royal Norwegian Air Force, Major General Tonje Skinnarland, speaking at the Norwegian Airpower Conference, February 2017.

The perspective of the Chief of the Royal Norwegian Air Force on the F-35 was that this was not at all a replacement aircraft, but a strategic asset when properly integrated with the national defense force and NATO forces.

The Air Force is in the throes of significant modernization with the addition of the F-35, the P-8 as well as new helicopters, and the overall challenge was to ensure integration of these platforms into a joint force able to operate inthe integrated battlespace.

And she made it very clear that it was preparation for and training to ensure effective capabilities for the high-end fight, which was the core focus of attention.

She highlighted the need to reshape concepts of operations for Norwegian defense and to work across the Norwegian defense structure for integrated C2 which was crucial.

She also highlighted that with the F-35 distributed operations were possible so in reforming C2 part of the challenge was what is called mission command, namely, authorizing pilots for missions, rather than providing for overly centralized tactical operational control.

I asked both senior Air Force officers the same question to start the conversation, namely, the Air Force is in a period of significant transition, how do they view the challenges and the opportunities?

Major General Skinnarland: We are clearly modernizing our platforms but we need to transform our force, our culture and our processes as well.

The strategic decisions made in the long-term investment will make us, even though small, one of the most modern air forces in the world in some years to come.

https://forsvaret.no/en/newsroom/news-stories/new-long-term-plan-for-the-armed-forces

https://www.regjeringen.no/en/topics/defence/ltp/ny-langtidsplan-for-forsvarssektoren/langtidsplanen-for-forsvarssektoren-er-vedtatt/id2520659/

At the same time, the security situation is challenging. After the annexation of Crimea and the buildup of Russian capabilities over the last years has made us understand that we have need to revitalize the concept of actually defending Norway in high intensity operations.

It is not just about adding new platforms; it is about shaping joint capabilities for the defense of Norway in a high intensity operational setting.

To achieve integrated defense and joint operations will not be easy and certainly will not happen simply by adding new platforms.

There are a lot of different tasks to be done ranging from getting all the spare parts, logistics, the training, and, of course, shaping the national defense plan.

As we get all these new systems, which will make us even more capable of handling the current situation and current threats together with other allies and partners, there is another challenge.

From Left to Right, Major Morten Dolby Hanche, the first Norwegian F-35 pilot, Major General Tonje Skinnarland and Brigadier General Heckl, COS STRIKFORNATO at the Norwegian Airpower Conference.

How best to be able to manage the process of change?

A key challenge will be on the human capital side.

How do we best train and task our people in shaping our new integrated force? For it will depend on them to actually bring such a force into being.

When it comes to opportunities in the new systems and particularly in the F-35, the conference has alluded a lot to this, the capability in the aircraft itself with weapons technology and networking will come.

But how do we make sure that we are able to utilize these technologies fully and effectively?

We must shape the correct competencies, the correct concepts of operations, and develop and execute effective plans for joint operations as well.

Brigadier General Jan Ove Rygg then answered the same question from his operational responsibilities.

If I address the same question, but from my perspective, the challenge is to get the joint processes in Norway to the point where we can do targeting efficiently.

We need to build an effective national command and control capability which seamlessly works with core allies who are crucial to defense operations in the High North.

What makes this particularly challenging is what we are taking about is national integration and C2 for national defense ground, sea and air operations, which can operate with core allies in extended defense operations

Question: Clearly, with core allies in the region operating similar platforms, notably F-35 and P-8, there are significant opportunities for interoperability built in, but obviously these potentials need to become realities.

How best to ensure that happens?

Major General Skinnarland: With the UK, the US, the Danes and the Dutch operating the same combat aircraft, there are clear opportunities to shape new common operational capabilities.

Also crucial is to shape a strong European F-35 sustainment base to ensure that we get the kind of sortie generation capabilities inherent in the aircraft, but you need the right kind of logistical support to achieve the outcomes you want.

The P-8s operating from the UK, Iceland, and Norway can shape a maritime domain awareness data capability which can inform our forces effectively as well but again, this requires work to share the data and to shape common concepts of operations.

A key will be to exercise often and effectively together.

To shape effective concepts of operations will require bringing the new equipment, and the people together to share experience and to shape a common way ahead.

In this sense, we see Trident Juncture 2018 as especially important in shaping effective national C2 and working towards more integrated operations with allies coming to Norway for the exercise.

We should plug and play in terms of our new capabilities; but that will not happen by itself, by simply adding new equipment.

It will be hard work.

https://forsvaret.no/en/exercise-and-operations/exercises/nato-exercise-2018

We have regular exercises in Norway like the Arctic Challenge Exercise, which is an exercise building on the weekly trilateral fighter training between Finland, Sweden, and Norway.

In May/June 2017 this invitex will see more than one hundred fighter aircraft from 8 nations, including the UK and US, participating in high quality training in the Nordic countries.

You also have other national exercises which are important in shaping our concepts of operations.

We need to enhance engagement with core NATO allies, such as expanding our working relationship with allied airpower operating in Norway during exercises.

We would love to see a UK F-35B squadron and a USAF F-35A deploy to Norway during an exercise and operate in the northern part of Norway under Norwegian command and control to see how we can get them to work together.

They might fly either from home bases with air-to-air tanker or stage from Norway, and work on how we effectively can integrate those squadrons during joint operations.

Brigadier General Jan Ove Rygg: The C2 issue is really a strategic one.

We are very good at the tactical level in operating in a joint context with our C2; we need to be as capable at the strategic level.

With the fifth generation force, you have capabilities to off-board weapons and to direct fire from sea or land as well as air.

When you try to do targeting and actually engage targets with different resources it is a challenge.

How do we shape a C2 structure, which can take advantage of this capability?

For an interesting overview of the way ahead, see the following:

http://cms.polsci.ku.dk/events/airpower2014/Gjert_Lage_Dyndal.pdf

Gjert_Lage_Dyndal

Shaping a Way Ahead for Norwegian Defense

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Preparing for Trident Juncture 2018: NATO Focuses on Its Core Mission - Second Line of Defense

General Petr Pavel, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee visited Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand, on 14-17 June 2017. During his stay, the Chairman met with Secretary of Defence, Ms Helene Quilter; the Minister of Defence, the Honourable Mark Mitchell; Chief of Defence of the New Zealand Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Tim Keating; Commander of Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) Base Auckland, Air Commodore Darryn Webb; the Chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force, Deputy Chief of the Army, Brigadier Christopher Parsons; and Special Operations Component Commander, Colonel Rob Gillard. General Pavel also attended a Defence meeting chaired by Lieutenant General Keating and delivered a speech at the New Zealand Institute for International Affairs at Victoria University.

Arriving in Wellington, General Pavel was greeted with a traditional Welcome Ceremony, a Pwhiri, and Honour Guard at the Pukeahu National War Memorial. While at the War Memorial, the Chairman paid his respects and laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. It is a privilege to be able to pay my respects and honour those men and women who have lost their lives serving their country, said General Pavel.

Discussions with Ms Helene Quilter and the Hon. Mark Mitchell centered on New Zealand and NATOs increased dialogue and cooperation, the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan to train, advise and assist the Afghan Security Forces and institutions, as well as regional and global threats and challenges. The Chairman thanked New Zealand for its enduring engagement in Afghanistan and the need to continue to work together to counter terrorism. Geography and distance no longer protect us. By ensuring our regional security and working together on common threats and challenges we can increase global peace and security, remarked General Pavel.

Attending a Defence meeting with Lieutenant General Keating, General Pavel was briefed on the current Operations and Missions the New Zealand Armed Forces are undertaking and their view on national, regional and global security challenges. He thanked Lt Gen Keating for New Zealands continued commitment to NATO-led Operations, Missions and Activities as both Generals agreed to look for further ways to enhance military-to-military cooperation which is of benefit to both NATO and New Zealand. New Zealand may not have a large defence force but it consistently contributes what it can to defend our shared values of democracy and protect rule of law. Your contribution is always highly regarded and valued by the Alliance, stressed the Chairman.

Meeting with the Air Component Commander of the RNZAF Base, Group Captain Tim Walshe, the General was briefed on the the Air Bases' capabilities and activities and visited a P-3K2 Airbourne Surveillance Plane. Visiting the SAS base at Papakura, the Chairman met Colonel Rob Gillard, Special Operations Component Commander. He received a briefing on their training capabilities and activities, and toured the recently completed multi-purpose training camp. Commenting on these visits, the General noted, I am continually impressed with how the New Zealand Armed Forces are committed to ensuring their capabilities are of a high quality, make the best use of their resources, and maintain interoperability with all partners to provide real added value.

Speaking with academics and government representatives at the New Zealand Institute for International Affairs, the Chairman highlighted the main challenges facing the Alliance, its current adaptation and its continued unity and solidarity in the face of threats from both state and non-state actors. The representatives in turn shared with the General their perspectives on regional and world affairs.

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NATO - News: NATO and New Zealand share genuine partnership ... - NATO HQ (press release)

By Nicholas L. Waddy SPECIAL TO THE NEWS

On May 25, President Trump, during his visit to the headquarters of NATO in Brussels, Belgium, sharply criticized our European allies for, in effect, freeloading off the military dominance, and the military spending, of the United States. This is an accurate analysis, since only four of the 26 European countries in NATO currently spend the minimum level of GDP, 2 percent, judged by the organization itself to be sufficient to meet their obligations. (The U.S., by contrast, spends 3.5 percent of GDP on defense, and its defense budget roughly triples the spending of all other NATO countries combined.)

Moreover, the U.S. faces most of its military challenges in the Middle East, and European countries consistently lack either the will or the capability to contribute meaningfully to those missions. Ergo, Europe continues to rely on the United States to provide for its collective defense, but it fails to spend adequately to supplement and support U.S. forces, and it fails also to support U.S. operations elsewhere in the world, even when those missions are clearly relevant to European security (e.g., the struggle against ISIS). In a nutshell, the U.S. pays to defend Europe, and gets little or nothing in return.

Those who favor a continuation of this ruinous policy do so largely because they are stuck in a Cold War mentality, and, indeed, during the Cold War NATO made excellent sense to all of its member states. NATOs core mission was and is collective defense, achieved by Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, penned in 1948-49 at the start of the Cold War. Article 5 states that if a single NATO country is attacked, all NATO countries will respond as if they were themselves attacked, and consequently rush to the rescue. During the Cold War, this meant that if the Soviet Union attacked any country in Western Europe, all of Western Europe, plus the United States and Canada, would go to war with the Soviet Union.

Whether this pledge was genuine or merely a bluff, it succeeded in preventing Soviet aggression. And, in the tense atmosphere of the Cold War, although the United States bore the primary burden of defending Europe against Soviet assault, most NATO members took their defense obligations seriously and maintained militaries that could credibly have assisted U.S. forces. They also sometimes contributed substantially to anti-communist military operations around the world during the Korean War, for example. In short, during the Cold War, NATO imposed great burdens and risks on its members, but those burdens and risks were shared, and no one disputed the seriousness of the challenge posed by communist aggression.

Today, though, the Soviet Union no longer exists. For those panicked by the latest upsurge of Russophobia, this may seem like a hollow declaration, since Russia still possesses powerful military forces, and has proved willing to use them against several of its neighbors. The fact, though, is that no country, including Russia, poses a threat to Europe in any way analogous to that of the Soviet Union. European countries have the human, technological, industrial and economic resources to defend themselves, with ease, from any credible enemy. Yet, unsurprisingly, they choose not to do so, because the United States continues to provide Europe with a blank check in the form of a security guarantee.

Europes position is understandable, as is American resentment of European freeloading. But what is different about the administrations position is that Trump is pointedly insisting that European countries boost their defense spending, and Trump has not explicitly endorsed Article 5 and the concept of collective defense. In other words, he is being cagey about whether, if a European country was attacked, the U.S. would uphold its treaty obligations and use armed force to assist it. He has not disavowed the treaty, but he seems to regard its obligations as reciprocal and therefore contingent on European nations paying their fair share. They seem to be minimally receptive to this demand.

One can naturally criticize the message this policy sends to potential aggressors, since it calls into question NATOs reliability, but the only alternative is for the U.S. to fund Europes defense indefinitely and without conditions. Surely, this is unacceptable. Something has to give.

For diplomatic reasons, Trump has backed off the claim he made during the campaign that NATO is obsolete, but in many ways he was right. NATO was founded based on two presuppositions: that Europes freedom was in imminent jeopardy, and that Europeans were incapable of defending that freedom by themselves. Neither of these assumptions holds water today. Thus, we should applaud Trump for pushing NATO members to rethink their roles and obligations. His message may not have been a popular one, but it is ultimately in the best interests of Americans and Europeans to heed it.

Nicholas L. Waddy, Ph.D., is an associate professor of history at SUNY Alfred.

Originally posted here:
Viewpoints: Trump's position on NATO is absolutely correct - The ... - Buffalo News

Although the loss of the R1 fleet may be a sad pill to swallow for the Royal Air Force, and the MoD as a whole, it represents a real opportunity for the US that could be aggressively explored in the near term. Sadly, the powers that be within the Pentagon and in the US defense industry will likely fight any sort of second hand acquisition of the Sentinel fleet because it will, even if to a relatively small degree, put in jeopardy the scope of lucrative E-8 JSTARS replacement contract. With careers being bet on this procurement initiative both inside the DoD and in the ranks of its biggest vendors, the retired R1s, which are needed today and can fit right into the USAF's inventory and order of battle, will likely be passed over. We can only hope this won't be the case as America's warfighters can seriously benefit from having these aircraft overhead in hotspots around the globe.

Alternatively, NATO could acquire these aircraft for the alliance's collective use under a similar scheme as their E-3 AWACS fleet, but they are already receiving GMTI and SAR capability via their five aircraft, Global Hawk-based "Alliance Ground Surveillance" initiative. But NATO will likely want more capacity and in a more flexible manner than the unmanned Global Hawks can provide. Instead of buying more Global Hawk derivatives, they could diversify their capabilities and likely save large sums of money by taking on the R1 fleet.

Such a transfer of capability would also make losing the aircraft more palatable for the UK. But where exactly the funding for operating and maintaining the Sentinels will come from is unclear. The Trump Administration could tell the alliance pitch in to adopt the fleet, as making demands of NATO partners has been part of the White House's core foreign policy agenda, but it could take time for making such an arrangement a reality. Like any weapon system, the longer the R1s sit in limbo the more expensive it will be to return them to service.

Either way, these aircraft need a home. Hopefully the US will step ineither with money or leadershipand see that they find one that is beneficial to the US and its allies.

Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com

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USAF Or NATO Should Snap Up The RAF's Retiring R1 Sentinel Radar Planes - The Drive